Knicks links: Team encouraged it played uneven and still beat Celtics

Looks like the Knicks’ can win in almost any manner, which must be encouraging to head coach Mike Woodson.

Whether they win via shootouts or defensive struggles – like yesterday’s 85-78 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the first-round of the Eastern Conference playoffs – the Knicks have showed a fortitude that hasn’t been seen around these parts for over a decade.

“Key bench players like Steve Novak and Chris Copeland looked lost and awed by the moment. Tyson Chandler, still recovering from an injury, was stiff, passive and completely out of it, and the interior defense, at least until late, was thusly limp and gross. The Knicks were unpleasant to watch and almost the total opposite of the team that won 16 of their last 18 games, against a rival who has vexed them for a decade, a rival known for turning into a monster in the playoffs. It all went wrong. And, hey ... the Knicks still beat the Celtics 85-78 to take a 1-0 series lead and notch their second playoff win in nearly 12 years. If this is what happens when everything falls apart, the Knicks are in an excellent position.”

“Dribbling 35 feet from the basket, he saw a charging Kevin Garnett and a freely roaming Kenyon Martin. The rest happened so quickly that it left the Boston Celtics dumbfounded. A bullet pass. A fingertips catch. A layup. And then bedlam. That nearly too-high pass and the easy basket that followed provided the final, finishing touch Saturday as the Knicks grinded out an 85-78 victory in the emotional opener of this first-round playoff series. … It was an imperfect end to an imperfect win, but one that resonated on many levels as the Knicks, hosting a Game 1 for the first time since 2001, took their first series lead in 12 years.”

Mitch Lawrence of The New York Daily News, however, took a different spin to the win. While many Knicks’ faithful – and the players themselves – looked at the victory as glass half-filled, Lawrence thinks the glass should be half-empty with a crack going down the side of the glass.

Lawrence added that the Knicks certainly didn’t look like a team worthy of the No. 2 seed, and definitely didn’t look like the biggest threat to dethroning the No. 1 seeded Miami Heat for Eastern Conference supremacy.

Lawrence:

“They must have been having a good laugh down in Miami on Saturday and not just at what the team in green was doing at the Garden in what has to rank as one of the all-time low points for a very proud Boston Celtics franchise. You could even imagine some members of the Heat watching all the bad basketball being played by the Knicks and saying, ‘If they’re supposed to be our toughest test in the East, we can book our flights to Oklahoma City.’ ... Except for the last five or six minutes of their 2013 playoff opener, the Knicks didn’t look like they belong on the same court with the defending champs, even if they did come away with an 85-78 victory. The Celtics were so feeble, scoring all of eight points in the fourth quarter, they didn’t belong on the same court with the Charlotte Bobcats.”

In other Knicks’ news:
• Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.comsaid center Tyson Chandler is still working his conditioning back, but will have to do so by being thrown into the fire. Begley added that Chandler doesn’t think it’ll take long before he gets his full wind back: “Tyson Chandler wasn't himself in Game 1 on Saturday, but he wasn't worried about it. … Chandler had missed 16 of the Knicks' final 20 regular-season games due to a neck ailment and was playing his first game in nearly two weeks on Saturday. Chandler played just six minutes in the second half as Mike Woodson opted to go with Kenyon Martin down the stretch.”
• Gary Dzen of Boston.com said that in Boston, they’re optimistic they can steal one in the Garden because they played even poorer than the Knicks in Game 1, yet were still within striking distance: “Let's start with something positive. Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony was 13-of-29 from the field in Saturday's 85-78 win over the Celtics. Anthony got his points (36 of them), but he wasn't efficient about it, and the Knicks didn't run away with any burst of offense. Two Knicks starters, Chris Copeland and Tyson Chandler, didn't score. Iman Shumpert had three points. Volume scorer J.R. Smith managed just three points off the bench. The Celtics are going to tell us today they can play much, much better. But expect the Knicks to say the same thing.”